Meanwhile in Transportation News

1) Transit advocates are licking their wounds after losing a major battle in Olympia last week: The transit-oriented communities bill, covered in exhaustive detail here on Slog and in the paper, died last night, after legislators failed to pass it out of either house before yesterday’s deadline. (The bill, which had been watered down in the state house to a shadow of its former self, would have encouraged greater residential densities and more affordable housing around transit stations and required cities along light rail lines to come up with ways to reduce their auto dependence). In an email, Shefali Ranganathan said it was “pretty unbelievable to see how Olympia has abdicated its responsibility to act on climate change, affordable housing and smart growth.” She added: “At a time when Washington families are feeling the pinch of car ownership and crashing house prices in the suburbs and exurbs, our Legislature has chosen the status quo versus real change in how we create communities and move people and goods.” The only way for the bill to be resurrected, Ranganathan wrote in a followup email, is for state senate leadership—in the form of Sen. Chris Marr (D-6)—to declare it “necessary to implement the budget,” which would exempt it from yesterday’s cutoff.

Allies of the bill expressed their anger and frustration in Facebook updates.

Transportation Choices Coalition Lobbyist Bill LaBorde “unfortunately failed in his effort to collaborate with Nick, Andrew, Shefali and April in destroying the American Dream. Maybe next year.”

Ranganathan “says Olympia you are dead to me.”

And low-income housing lobbyist Nick Federici “is hoping that Friday the 13th is better than Thursday the 12th was!”

2) Despite their defeat in Olympia, transit advocates were looking forward to next weekend’s Transportation Freedom Day—the day when the average Seattle resident has earned enough to pay off his or her transportation costs for the year. (Guess what? It’s sooner if you don’t drive a car!) The Transporation Choices Coalition, Futurewise, Sierra Club, and WashPIRG are hosting a “transportation awareness” fair on Sunday, March 15 at the Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club (4520 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. S.) from 3 to 4 pm. “Games, cake, and transportation awareness” are promised!

3) Finally, the Dark Side will have its say at the anti-transit Washington Policy Center’s Transportation Dinner at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue (900 Bellevue Way NE) on Saturday, April 18, where Dr. Samuel Staley, Director of Urban Policy at the Reason Foundation, will talk about “A New Vision for Transportation” (hint: It won’t include light rail!) The Reason Foundation describes Staley as “one of the nation’s foremost critics of conventional smart growth and a leader in developing practical, market-oriented alternatives.” Sounds so forward-looking!